


Feathers of the Past

by WrittenKinzy18



Series: Winged Multiverse [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: AUs are mentioned a few times, Alternate Universe - Wings, Angst, Attempt at Humor, Bad Puns, Badster, Brotherly Love, Chara & Frisk (Undertale) Share a Body, Determination (Undertale), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Evil W. D. Gaster, Family, Family Fluff, Flowey Remembers Resets (Undertale), Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Frisk Remembers Resets (Undertale), Gen, Humor, Hurt Sans (Undertale), Hurt/Comfort, No More Resets (Undertale), No Romance, Nonbinary Chara & Frisk (Undertale), Nonbinary Chara (Undertale), Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Frisk (Undertale), Parent W. D. Gaster, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route - "I want to stay with you.", References to Undertale Genocide Route, Sans (Undertale) Needs a Hug, Sans (Undertale) Remembers Resets, Sans (Undertale) gets a hug, Science Experiments, Scientist W. D. Gaster, Undertale Monsters on the Surface, Undertale Saves and Resets, Undertale Spoilers, Unethical Experimentation, W. D. Gaster Being An Asshole, abusive gaster, he's a parent, just not a good one, sans and undyne bromance, that should be a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:53:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27755659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrittenKinzy18/pseuds/WrittenKinzy18
Summary: All monsters had wings. They were an extension of the soul, an important part of their lives, each set unique to every monster. Just because most couldn't often use them to fly Underground didn't mean they didn't use them at all. Whether it was fighting, flying, or just to express themselves and their emotions, most monsters loved to show them off.Most monsters.Sans doesn't show his wings. No one had really questioned him before, but now, on the Surface for the last time, he made a promise to his brother. He isn't one to break a promise.
Relationships: Alphys & Sans (Undertale), Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), Asgore Dreemurr & Sans, Chara & Flowey & Frisk (Undertale), Chara & Flowey (Undertale), Chara & Frisk (Undertale), Chara & Sans (Undertale), Flowey & Frisk (Undertale), Flowey & Sans (Undertale), Frisk & Sans (Undertale), Papyrus & Sans (Undertale), Sans & Toriel (Undertale), Sans & Undyne (Undertale)
Series: Winged Multiverse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2030311
Comments: 18
Kudos: 198





	Feathers of the Past

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a quick one shot but I should know by now that nothing I ever write will ever be quick.
> 
> Also, it's one in the morning. Tell me if I screwed up grammar wise. I'm too lazy to check again...

Wings were something that every monster had. They were a very important aspect of a monster. It was an extension of their magic – of their soul. They show a monster’s true self. The more magic and power a monster had, the larger their wings. Some were even capable of flight, not that that did much good underground. Smaller monsters with big enough wings, like Whimsuns or Icecap, could use this for faster travel. Most just stay grounded and use them for expression or fighting.

Papyrus was one of them. There just wasn’t enough room to truly spread his wings in Snowden. At least, not well enough that there wasn’t risk of damaging himself or something else.

That didn’t mean he didn’t know how to. Well, the basics, at least. He fluttered around with his brother when he was a babybones. It wasn’t his fault he shot up in height so fast, his wingspan following soon after.

Both of his wings were as long as he was tall, often stretched out behind him as he proudly spoke to whoever would listen. Each pale white feather was tipped in a brilliant rusty orange, the same color of his magic, as most wings were. Though large as they were, he was skilled enough now at maneuvering in smaller spaces, so he only knocked things over occasionally!

Most monsters showed their wings with pride. There’s almost no clothing found that did not have slits in the back for them. Wings were where monsters were the most diverse, after all, so many wanted to show them off. Undyne, his dearest friend and role model, had larger wings than he did, shimmering a mix of blue and lime green. She always used them the best in a battle or a spar, practically wielding typically soft feathers as extra weapons, though he has no idea how. (Somehow, she has less control over them than he does, especially when excited. It’s no wonder her home is always a mess. It has nothing to do with their cooking lessons, of course.)

Not everyone liked to have them out, however. If a monster wanted to, they could hide their wings with a bit of extra magic, or, for smaller wings, just tuck them under a shirt. It wasn’t common, as it often exhausted monsters with large wings to hide them too long, but definitely not unheard of. Grillby often kept his hidden, only letting fiery orange and yellow feathers out when he wasn’t at work. Napstablook and Shyren constantly hid their wings out of timidness. Even Alphys folded her small pair under her lab coat, only to be seen when she was relaxed and around friends.

Sans also kept his wings hidden for as long as Papyrus could remember.

He’d never thought much of it. It was completely normal for the brothers, and the one time he’d asked, his brother had grinned and said there “wasn’t much to show,” saying they were tiny and easily fit under his jacket. Papyrus never questioned it again. It was logical, after all. Sans only had the base stats of one. He wouldn’t be surprised if his brother only had two feathers on his shoulders. It would certainly make for easier grooming, which was right up Sans’s lazy alley.

So, Papyrus never _really_ acknowledged the fact that he’d never seen them before. Not until now.

The tall skeleton was at Undyne’s home, as he often was on his days off from his post. They’d finished their lessons long ago, and Alphys had been invited over to watch a new anime series she’d found. The doctor always seemed the most relaxed at Undyne’s, though Papyrus rarely sees her anywhere else anyways. He grinned brilliantly at the two girls chatting excitedly over the DVD case, his wings (still slightly stained in tomato sauce; he’d have to wash that off when he got home) flaring out on either side.

He chose to ignore the cup he knocked over on the kitchen table. It was empty anyways.

“Well!” he exclaimed loudly, causing Alphys to jump. Her lab coat’s back wriggled as her wings tensed beneath the fabric. “I should be off, then! _Someone_ has to make sure Sans eats dinner!”

Undyne snorted. “I don’t know, Paps. He’s always at Grillby’s, so he probably had a few thousand burgers already.”

“EXACTLY! That does not count for anything! He needs something that _isn’t_ grease food!”

“I-I mean…” Alphys shifted on her feet. “H-He doesn’t eat t- _that_ much, does he? I-I know he stays there a lot, b-but I… I guess I figured it was just because, well… he likes t-talking? To the people there?”

“Are you saying Sans is popular?” Undyne tilted her head. Her wings twitched as she nodded. “Yeah, I guess I can see that. The Pack hardly talks about anything _but_ Sans sometimes.”

Papyrus groaned. “Yes, I’m well aware of his acquaintances at the bar. But still! I have yet to see him there without at least a bottle of ketchup!” He crossed his arms, wings snapping in to his sides. “And that’s almost worse! Just means he’s likely not eating there as well! Or just napping, like he does everywhere! I swear, that bonehead would forget to clean his own wings if he didn’t have such a cool brother to remind him!”

The captain’s eyebrow raised. “Does the nerd even _have_ wings? I know some like to hide ‘em, but damn, even Nap’s let’s his out every so often, even if it is just to hide behind them.” She blinked. “Not that it does much, since they’re see-through… but that’s beside the point!”

“Of course he has wings! Every monster has wings! He just hides them, that’s all!”

Alphys nodded grimly. “It’s no wonder he’s tired all the t-time,” she muttered.

Two pairs of eyes turned to her immediately. “What do you mean?” Undyne asked.

The shortest stuttered, fumbling with the DVD case in her clawed hands. “W-Well, I-I mean, hiding his w-wings… t-that’s gotta t-take a lot of e-energy, y-y’know?”

The skeleton tilted his head in confusion. “You must be mistaken, Dr. Alphys! My brother just hides them under his jacket. He’s not nearly powerful enough to use so much magic so often for something so small!” He raised a hand to his chest and grinned. “Of course you’d think the brother of the Great Papyrus would have equally great wings, but it is simply not so!”

“Yeah, Alph, he just does what you do!” Undyne smiled and clapped the smaller monster on her back with a lot less strength than she does for Papyrus. Still, Alphys ended up falling forward a couple steps. Instead of flustering at the nudge, however, she just looks at them in complete confusion.

“U-uhm… W-We’re talking about S-Sans, right?” she asked uncertainly, looking between the two. At their affirmative, she adds, “B-But, Sans has huge wings! H-He can’t just… There’s just n-no way he could hide them u-under a coat??” She eyed Papyrus nervously. “… H-How did you n-not know that…?”

Silence stretched out amongst the three, each one wearing a similar expression of bewildered surprise.

After a long moment, Papyrus finally spoke up. “I… admit, I have never seen his wings before. But he told me he just hid them under his coat!”

Undyne turned her wide eyes to him now. “Never? Haven’t you always lived with him though?”

“Well, yes, but he’s the oldest by quite a bit. I just figured he started hiding them before I could remember.” He looked unsettled by this new knowledge and asked, “How do you know what his wings look like if I’ve never seen them?”

“Did you catch a glimpse of them on your cameras?”

Flustering, Alphys held her hands up. “N-No! No, I d-don’t have cameras i-in like, a-anyone’s _home_ or a-anything. S-Sans and I used to w-work together, t-that’s all!”

Undyne’s wings flared out behind her in her shock, knocking the table over. The cup Papyrus had only tipped over was now broken on the ground. (Really, he’d told her she needed to get plastic cups instead.) “WHAT?! When?!”.

“Y-Years ago!” The scientist stuttered, eying the tossed table for only a moment. “B-Before I was the R-Royal Scientist, S-Sans and I were assistants to… uh, to…” She hesitated. “U-Um, the Royal S-Scientist before me. I, uh… forgot his name… b-but it doesn’t matter. It w-wasn’t anything fancy, b-but we helped w-with experiments and such.”

Even Papyrus looked confused, much to the girls’ surprise. “I… don’t remember that?” he said, more as a question than a statement.

“W-Well, y-you were really young back t-then… b-but h-he never told you?”

“No… I honestly didn’t think he had a job before the sentry post he has in Snowden…”

“Snowden?” Undyne looked at him weird. “You mean Waterfall?”

Alphys rubbed her hands, still clutching the case nervously. “H-He has one in H-Hotland too, p-plus the hot dogs he sells there s-sometimes…”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that!”

The taller skeleton was looking more concerned by the minute. “What!? _Three_ sentry posts!?”

Undyne nodded, just as troubled. “I mean, he had to have made money _somehow_ , Paps. You didn’t just get that house for free, and two sentry posts doesn’t pay the bills so easily.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “Huh. Guess he’s not as lazy as I thought he was. And if he really has big wings, I’m surprised he’s keeping up with them all!”

“I… guess I never thought about that…” Papyrus’s wings drooped a bit. How much had his brother kept from him? He turned back to Alphys. “What… what are his wings like?”

She smiled sweetly, pushing her glasses up her nose. “D-Dark blue, mostly, b-but they have a s-sort of light cyan and yellow shimmer to them in the r-right lights. A-And really big, l-like I said! H-He was always k-knocking things over in the lab, but he was always able t-to catch them, so he never broke anything.”

“Okay, but how the _hell_ does _Sans_ have big wings?!” Undyne yelled, throwing her hands in the air. “His stats are _shit!_ ”

“S-Shit, how?”

“He has the base stats of one,” Papyrus answered. Alphys looked at him with absolute concern.

“A-All of his stats?!”

“Yes? Was it not always like that?”

_No,_ not at all. She started to say this aloud but stopped. Papyrus looked so… sad. Scared, even. She gulped, then smiled as reassuringly as she could. “W-Well, h-his attack w-was a little higher. H-He p-probably just, um, h-hasn’t trained enough! Yeah, haha…”

Undyne gave her a look, but Papyrus relaxed at her excuse. “Ah, I see. So his laziness isn’t genetic like he so likes to claim! He was more powerful in the past! What a lazybones.” His enthusiasm dimmed a bit, but a smile stayed on his face. “Thank you for the information, Dr. Alphys. I will take this into consideration!”

“Yeah!” Undyne grinned at him. “I’m sure he has his reasons, Paps! Ya just gotta walk up to him, wrap your arm around his shoulders, and give ‘im a good scuffle until he ‘fesses up!” She did so with Papyrus as she spoke, rubbing her knuckles over his skull with passion.

“Nyeeeeh! Do not noogie the skeleton!”

Tension finally dismissed, Papyrus finally took note of the time again and said his farewells. Wings fluttering at his side, he strode with full Papyrus flare away from Undyne’s home. When he was out of eyesight, Undyne crossed her arms, folded her wings, and turned a serious stare to Alphys.

“Alright, fess up. What were Sans’s stats when you nerds worked together?”

The smaller monster winced, rubbing her arms. “I-I can’t recall exact numbers, b-but his Defense and Attack were a-at least 20, and h-his HP had to h-have been 900, at l-least! I-If it’s d-dropped so m-much, I…”

The captain pushed aside her surprise for the moment. She couldn’t worry Alphys more than she already was. “Defense and Attack dropping is normal for someone that doesn’t use magic very often. I’ve never heard of HP dropping though…”

Alphys suppressed a whimper, biting her lip. She eventually steeled herself and turned a smile up at Undyne. “I-It’s alright! J-Just rare, is all. A-As long as he d-doesn’t fight o-or anything… A-Anyway, I-I’m sorry for getting us off t-track earlier. D-Do we still have t-time to…?” She held up the anime case hopefully.

All Undyne’s worries slipped from her shoulders in a heartbeat as her wings burst out and a grin slid across her face. “HECK YEAH WE DO!” She yanked the case from her clawed hands and rushed into her home with a “NGAAAAHH!”

Alphys smiled fondly after her, her small wings flickering under the cloth of her coat. Before stepping back inside, she turned a worried look to where Papyrus disappeared.

Dropping HP was something she was all too familiar with in her studies. It was definitely _not_ something to bat an eye to, but if Sans has had low HP for as long as Papyrus can remember, then… maybe it wasn’t so bad? Not good, but not something she should stick her nose into…

But still… If he got to 0…

She didn’t want to think about her old friend Falling Down any time soon.

She gulped. “I-I’ll keep an eye on him m-more often from the c-cameras…” she muttered to herself. “And give him a c-call…? Y-Yeah… hng…”

“C’MON, ALPHYS! I WANNA SEE SOME SWORD FIGHTING!”

“C-Coming!”

-:(o):-

“I’M HOME!”

Shutting the door behind him, Papyrus took in the warm living room in front of him with a grin. It didn’t take him long to pinpoint his older brother. He laid across their couch, completely dead to the world with his typical teethy smile pressed into the crook of his elbow. Papyrus smiled gently at the sight. As much as he hated seeing his brother lounging around so often, it was nice to see him so relaxed in moments like this.

His eyes trailed from Sans’s face to his exposed back, still wrapped in that signature blue jacket. His smile faltered.

For a second, he contemplated lifting the fabric up just enough to get a peak but shook that thought away quickly. If Sans didn’t want him to see his wings, then he shouldn’t force him. Plus, Sans was a surprisingly light sleeper when it came to actually touching him. Though he could snore through a horn blaring in his earholes, the moment someone laid a hand on him, or even just moved to do so, he’d be blinking an eye socket open and throwing a pun your direction.

He huffed a laugh at the thought, finally moving away from the doorway to go to their kitchen. His wing stretched out to gently drift a feather across Sans’s skull.

As expected, one eye socket popped open at the gesture, and his permanent grin widened. “Heya, Paps.”

“Hello brother! I apologize for being home later than usual!”

“Eh, better late than _feather_.”

Papyrus paused just at the entrance to the kitchen. He ran a hand down his skull and groaned. “I should never have woken you.”

“Eh, you were just _winging_ it.”

“That was horrible.”

“Sorry, are my jokes too _fowl?_ ”

“I regret coming home.”

Sans laughed heartily, sitting up but not moving from the couch. “So, how was Undyne’s? Learn anything new?”

Papyrus’s shoulders slumped a bit and he hesitated before realizing Sans meant his lessons. “Oh, yes! We figured out how to make spaghetti sauce much more efficiently! It was much less of a mess to clean up afterwards! We spent only thirty minutes washing down the walls this time!”

The shorter skeleton snorted. “Get it down to twenty-five, and I’ll believe that’s true progress.”

“Why of course! That’s our goal for tomorrow!” He threw open the refrigerator, inspecting its contents with a keen eye before pulling out one of the many containers of spaghetti. He’d much rather make a fresh batch and save these for breakfast, but it was a bit late for that. Sans would never stay awake long enough for that, and he certainly wasn’t sending him to sleep without food.

There was soft tapping of footsteps behind him as he set about making his brother’s dinner, stopping just inside the kitchen. As he poured the contents on a plate, Sans spoke up, “Anything else happen? You seem a bit rattled.”

Papyrus chose to ignore the obvious pun, as overused as it was. He popped the plate into the microwave and stood there silently, wings drooped.

Undyne said he should confront his brother about this, but was now too soon? Should he think it over a bit more? What was he even supposed to ask, really? Wings weren’t a common topic in the skelebros household, seeing as only Papyrus showed them off. Did he just bring it up, like he had all those years ago?

He was overthinking this, wasn’t he?

“Paps?” Sans’s voice was much more concerned now. Papyrus shook himself out of his daze.

“Sorry, sorry.” He turned to face his brother. “Alphys came over today.”

Sans nodded slowly. “And?”

“And, um, well.” He leaned on the counter behind him. “You never told me you and Alphys worked together.” There was a pause. “Or, well, that you worked so much _still_.”

The two stood in silence for a moment before the shorter skeleton shrugged. “Guess it never came up. Gotta pay the bills somehow. If I get paid for sleeping three times over, seems like a pretty good deal.”

Papyrus huffed a laugh but took notice of the clear avoidance. “I was unaware you and Alphys were better acquaintances.”

“I guess. We haven’t talked in a while though, besides the occasional comment on the Undernet. She was a lot more science-y than me. I left not long after she got the Royal Scientist gig.”

He nodded along, ignoring the beeping of the microwave. There was obviously much more to it than Sans was letting on, but he didn’t want to push too much. The jobs weren’t what bothered him as much. Really, he felt a bit happy at that knowledge. He didn’t know just how much his brother did for him since he was a child, considering they grew up pretty much without parents. His earliest memory was of Sans giving him the scarf he treasures so much because it was cold on the streets of Snowdin. He subconsciously touched it in thought. Sans always had looked after him, hadn’t he?

Did he really have such an important job while living on the streets and taking care of a babybones?

And here he was, calling him lazy.

He tried hard to remember a time when, maybe, Sans had wrapped him up in his wings, but all he could recall was the times staying at Grillby’s or staying in Bella’s shop. Now that he thought about it, Sans did leave him under their watch quite often, even when they had the house. Was it to go to work?

All these pieces were fitting together, and he didn’t even know if he had the right ones. It was much harder to put a puzzle together when you didn’t know what the image was supposed to _be._ Was he even close?

Sans watched him uncertainly, looking like he didn’t know whether to stand back or go to his brother. With a sigh, Papyrus took the plate of spaghetti from the microwave and handed it to the shorter skeleton. He then finally spoke, “Why do you hide your wings?”

Sans almost dropped the plate at the sudden question, looking up at Papyrus with confusion. “What?”

“Your wings. Dr. Alphys said they’re too big to just… hide under your jacket, so…”

For a moment, Papyrus was certain he’d overstepped his boundaries. Sans looked ready to bolt, as usual when he got overwhelmed or didn’t want to talk anymore. He was fully prepared for him to come up with an excuse and retreat to his room.

Surprisingly, Sans just relaxed after a moment, set the plate down on the kitchen table, and looked up to his little brother. “I don’t much like my wings, so I hide them. It’s easier to tell people they’re tiny and can fit under my shirt. I didn’t mean to lie to you, bro. Just didn’t think it was very important.”

“Of course it’s important!” Papyrus insisted. “They’re your _wings_ , brother!” He sighed. “You don’t have to show them off. I understand not wanting many to see them. You keep to yourself a lot, and I respect that. It’s just… you’ve got to be using so much magic to keep them hidden all the time. Why can’t you let go at home?”

“It’s not so much that I don’t want others to see it,” Sans said, shaking his head. “It’s more _I_ don’t want to see it. And it really doesn’t take all that much magic.” He winked with a reassuring grin. “I let ‘em out to wash every so often, too, so don’t worry about that either.”

Papyrus stared, still uncertain and unsatisfied. The shorter skeleton reached forward to take his hand. “Really, Paps. I’m fine.”

“I just don’t understand why you dislike them so much,” he muttered, abnormally silent. “The way Alphys described them…” He furrowed his brows and shook his wings. “Any brother of the Great Papyrus is great as well, wings and all! Not _as_ great, but a very close second!”

Sans’s grin widened. “Heheh, you’re the coolest person I know. I don’t come anywhere close.” He let go of Papyrus’s hand, picked up the plate of pasta and moved to take a seat. When he saw Papyrus still didn’t look convinced, he ran a hand down his face and turned to face the taller monster. “Tell ya what. When we get that seventh soul and make it to the Surface, Paps, I’ll, uh. I’ll stop hiding, okay? I’ll let ‘em out, at least at home or something. Okay?”

Papyrus hesitated. It wasn’t… great. Who knows how long it would be until they were freed, really. But this was likely the best he’d get from his brother.

And it just gave him one more thing to look forward to when they do get to the Surface.

“Promise?”

Sans smiled and held out his hand for his brother to take. “I promise.”

-:(o):-

Frisk was… not his _favorite_ human to fall down. That’s saying a lot, seeing how he only knew a handful. He liked them well enough now, but his point still stands.

They were cute the first time he met them, filled with such curiosity and awe as they admired every monster and their wings. They laughed alongside him, made his brother happy, and treated everyone they met with kindness and understanding.

Then they Reset a few times. Just like the flower. The flower that abused that power for his own selfish amusement, making everyone else suffer instead. So Sans was used to this, and he trusted they knew what they were doing.

The first time, it looked as if they reset to find a way to open the barrier, as they had left the Underground alone before. They’d seen the sun for the first time, truly free.

Frisk Reset again before any of them could even leave the mountain. In this new timeline, they looked confused, but more determined than ever. They did more exploring, asked more questions, met more monsters. He even caught them reading in the librarby, looking into books on souls and wings with half a stack of Underground history and science books piled besides them.

They were trying to figure something out, he reasoned with himself. He just had to be Patient and trust them. They’d saved them once before. They’d save them again.

It was hard to keep that trust up when they suddenly had dust on their hands and feathers in their trail.

He might have been a little harsh with them, though. It wasn’t _really_ the kid’s fault. It’s hard to be a good little pacifist when you’ve got a murderous ghost child possessing your body at any given chance.

He didn’t find out about that until much later into the Resets, though, and boy, was _that_ a conversation. He’d lived at least a couple dozen timelines and thousands of Loads, watching the kid go back and forth between killing and sparing while doing some kind of research in between, trying to figure out how their mind worked. He’d fought them at least five times at that point, only during timelines where they went complete Murder Child (though he definitely came close to attacking after they killed Papyrus for no reason).

He’d already dealt with Flowey’s Resetting bullshit, and that already drove him nuts. He decided outright attacking or ignoring the issue might not be the way to go about things this time around, so he tried a different route.

He cornered the kid the moment they stepped out of the Ruins and directly asked what the _fuck_ they thought they were doing.

Frisk’s face when they realized he _remembered_ was one of pure horror, though not because they’d been caught.

That was when he found out about Chara.

From then on, he did his best to determine who was in control at what time, protecting Frisk from the sidelines and making Chara’s life a living _hell_. A little tug on the Soul here and there while in an encounter could mean life or death while fighting. It just looked like the kid was better or worse at dodging. To the other monster, at least.

When they realized what he was doing, Chara made sure to Load after killing him over and over and over again, but it was well worth it in the end.

He also found out what all the research was for. Frisk was apparently trying to find a way to save Flowey, who was _apparently_ Asriel Dreemurr. As if his life wasn’t confusing enough as is. He knew about the Determination experiments — helped with them even — but this was a whole new level of “what the fuck” he wasn’t sure how to handle.

But Sans _did_ technically help create the little bastard, so he helped them out there as well.

Really, this was a lot more behind-the-scenes work than he was all that prepared to do.

He’d lost count of how many resets they’d been through before Frisk (with Flowey’s help, surprisingly — he was probably getting tired of dying repeatedly as well) was finally able to give Chara a different option. He really didn’t know nor care how they managed it, but they struck a deal of some sorts. Chara couldn’t kill, they both got control every so often, and Flowey had to come with them to the Surface.

What a fucked up relationship they’ve got, huh? It was only a matter of time until people thought Frisk had some sort of multiple personality disorder. Though honestly, he couldn’t complain — not with the warmth of the sun on his face, knowing this time, it was for _real_.

They’d never gotten this far in a pacifist timeline before. The humans weren’t welcoming, exactly, but with Frisk’s insistence, monsters were given a chance. They stayed mainly in the mountain while Asgore and Frisk talked with official after official, as they weren’t allowed to own any property yet. Thankfully, the town of Ebott was rather open, all things considering, and allowed monsters to come down for a stroll or a bite to eat every so often. (Turns out gold has a lot more worth on the Surface than it had Underground. Just made his savings all the more important.) There were some skirmishes, of course, but nothing Undyne and the town’s police couldn’t handle. A surprising amount of them thought they were angels or something, ironically enough, considering they crawled out of the Underground with the help of dead kids’ souls.

Sans really didn’t understand how that was so glossed over, but who was he to judge? He’d killed Frisk/Chara a million times over.

Despite it all, after nearly a year, a bunch of politics he didn’t really pay attention to, and a lot of talk shows, Sans and his brother could finally get another house of their own and start really _living_.

They’d moved in almost a week ago, just down the street from Undyne and Alphys’s place and a short walk to Toriel’s. Asgore stayed in town as well, seeing as most monsters wanted to stay in Ebott. He often visited as well, though with a lot more hesitance than the others.

He was glad they lived nearby. The eight of them had grown to be a sort of family in the past year.

(Mettaton as well, though he was busy touring nowadays with Shyren and Napstablook.)

Oh, and monsters were once again allowed to spread their wings. That was a thing too. He has the picture of Papyrus and Undyne fumbling through the sky their first day free hung up on his bedroom wall. It wasn’t a flattering photo by any means, but in his opinion, that made it so much better.

He still couldn’t believe they’d gotten this far. Honestly, he still had his doubts. Frisk promised no more Resets but insisted that Saves and Loads might still be necessary. He supposed that wasn’t too bad, considering how other universes were fairing.

Sans grinned as he stood in the center of his new room. (Somehow, it was already messy. Just how he liked it. Tornado and all.) The whole rag-tag family were getting together the next day at the skelebro’s home now that it was fully settled into. It was a sort of celebration, but he knew it was really just an excuse to play Mario Kart and watch anime all night. It was around noon now; he’d slept in pretty late, as usual. From the sound of it, Papyrus was busying himself by cleaning downstairs.

He shortcutted downstairs, casually walking into the living room where Papyrus was dusting. A couple things laid on the floor, likely knocked over from his wings. He chuckled, walking over to pick up a fallen figurine. “I know your wings are a huge _bird-_ en, but maybe try not to make even more of a mess while you’re cleaning?”

Papyrus just rolled his eyes, ignoring his _very_ clever pun, thank you very much, and continued his mission. “Good morning to you as well, brother.”

“Eh, morning’s kinda pushin’ it.”

His brother turned to look at the clock on the far wall, then turned to glare at Sans, his wings flaring up behind him. Somehow, he didn’t knock anything else over. “It’s nearly noon! You said you’d get up earlier to help me prepare for guests!”

Sans nodded. “Yup. Tomorrow.” He winked. “You can’t expect me to be up all day with you energetic kids without getting extra sleep today, can you? Figured I’d help pick up a bit now, and we can make some snacks ‘er somethin’ in the morning.”

“Really?” Papyrus brightened at this, feathers twitching with excitement. “You’ll help me bake?!”

“Can’t promise I’ll be much help, but sure. I’ve gotten a bit of a baking tu- _Toriel_ before.” His grin widened at Papyrus’s groan. “What were you thinking of making?”  
  


“I’m so glad you asked! Lady Toriel showed me a new recipe for peanut butter cookies the other day! I was going to make some of those for a dessert, and we have plenty of vegetables and crackers in the kitchen for snacks before dinner! And of course, I’ll have the finest of spaghetti prepared, maybe even with a different type of noodle! Nothing but the absolute best for the friends of the Great Papyrus! Nyeheheh!”

“Sounds sweet,” Sans approved, giving his brother a thumbs up. “We got everything for that, or should I stop at the store today too?”

“If you wouldn’t mind, that would be wonderful!”

“Yeah, sure. Should probably stop by Grillbz’s anywho. Haven’t seen ‘im in a while.” And it would give him a chance to pick up actual fun snacks, and maybe some ranch dip for the veggies. Vegetables were great and all, but he didn’t want to listen to Undyne and the kid’s whining about wanting less healthy treats. “Just give me a list and I’ll take care of it.”

“Thank you, brother! Just give me a moment to finish up.”

“Don’t take too long, bro, or I’ll leave without it.” Backing up to the stairs to fetch his jacket, the shorter skeleton winked again. “Don’t want me _wingin’ it_ at the store, eh?”

“NYEH! You’ve used that one a million times!”

“Have I? That’s _hawk-_ ward.”

“SANS!”

“A- _parrot_ -ly, I’m running out a bird puns. You could say I’ve reached my _beak_ in humor.”

“STOP IT!”

“Maybe I’m just not _quail_ -ified for it anymore.”

The duster Papyrus had been using was thrown across the room and in his face. The comedian, still snickering to himself at his own humor, quickly retreated up the stairs before their pet rock was next. He could still hear Papyrus’s exclamations of annoyance when he closed the door to his room once again.

Safe once again, Sans chuckled and moved to his dresser for a change in shirt and his jacket. Neither were actually put away, instead sprawled out on top of the furniture. He’d probably have to pick up in here a little before tomorrow, for the slight chance Frisk weaseled their way in again. It became somewhat of a game between the two.

Eh, he’ll just throw whatever he didn’t need in the tornado. That counted as cleaning, right?

He thought so.

He quickly threw on his usual clothes and slid on some actual shoes. He found they were a lot more practical on the hard concrete than his slippers were back in Snowdin, even if they weren’t as comfortable. Within a few minutes of his morning preparation and making sure he had his wallet and phone, Sans was ready to go. Before leaving his room once again, he eyed the small vial of ink on his nightstand. He shrugged and grabbed it, slipping it into his pocket.

Just in case. You never know when you need interdimensional assistance.

With that, he made his way back downstairs. Papyrus was waiting for him by the couch, a small slip of paper in hand. He must have already written down what was needed. Sans smiled as he walked over, holding out his hand to take the list, a pun on the tip of his tongue once again.

Papyrus hesitated, his wings tensing up a bit.

“Um, actually,” Sans paused, taking note of the worried tone, “can we talk before you go?”

Sans blinked, a little taken back by the sudden shift in atmosphere. He put his hands back in the pockets of his jacket. “Of course. What’s up?”

“Well, your horrible puns just reminded me, and I’ve been meaning to bring this up for a while now but didn’t…” The tall skeleton steeled himself and squared his shoulders. “You made me a promise. Back in Snowdin.”

“I did?” He wracked his brain for a moment, trying to remember. The Resets really blurred a lot of his memories, especially before they had started. He couldn’t often remember what he did or said in each timeline, let alone a conversation he may have had before Flowey.

But a promise to Papyrus? When had that happened?

“Yes, you did! It wasn’t too long before Human Frisk showed up!” Ah, so either during Flowey’s resets, or before it all together. It was weird to think about how short of a timeframe that _actually_ was.

“Well, what was it? Must’ve been pretty important if I promised.”

His brother nodded confidently, though the fiddling his hands were doing with the paper betrayed his nervousness. “You promised that, when we reached the Surface, you’d… you’d stop hiding your wings.”

Oh.

_Oh._

_That_ promise.

Sans felt his eyelights blink out.

His brother’s confidence fled in an instance. “S-Sans?”

“Ah.” He shut his eye sockets for a moment. When they opened, the little white lights were back. “Honestly forgot about that. It’s, uh, a bit late to be reminding me, doncha think?”

“W-Well, yes. I forgot about it as well, in the mess the first few months were after the Barrier broke.” Paps rubbed the back of his skull sheepishly. “And I didn’t think it was a good time while we were all living together to bring it up then… But I thought now would be a great time! We have our own home, our own space, and you don’t have work for a while, so you could get used to having them out around me and friends before, well. Assuming you had them out _all_ the time. I did say it could just be at home…”

“No, no, I getcha. Prime timing and all…”

The two lapsed into an awkward silence for a moment, neither knowing what else to say. When the younger brother finally opened his mouth to talk, Sans beat him to it.

“Uh, I’ll be honest, Paps,” he said with a chuckle, staring at a wrinkle on his brother’s red shirt, “I didn’t really… _really_ think we’d get to the Surface when I made that promise, heheh.”

The shopping list in Papyrus’s hand crinkled under his tightened grip. Sans sighed, putting on a lazy smile and looking up at the other Papyrus.

“But a promise is a promise. And I don’t take those lightly.”

Papyrus’s expression brightened considerably. “REALLY?!”

“Yeah, sure. Starting tomorrow, though. And it’ll only be in the house. Not quite ready to go flauntin’ em like you do yet.”  
  


“YES!” Papyrus swooped in to wrap his smaller brother in a tight hug, lifting him completely off the ground. His large wings curled to encase the two in its magical warmth. “I’M SO PROUD BROTHER!”

Sans laughed into his shoulder, patting him on the back and squinting at the feathers that threatened to poke at his eye sockets. “Don’t get too excited, bro. Like I said, it ain’t much. Not nearly as bright as your’s.”

“NONSENSE! ANY BROTHER OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS BOUND TO BE _NEARLY_ AS GREAT!” The hug tightened. “I don’t know why you hide them, but your wings are _yours_ , brother. That’s what makes them so wonderful!”

Warmed, Sans huffed. “Thanks, Pap.” He let go of his brother, letting his arms and legs hang limply in the hug. “You can let me go now, bro.” He grinned mischievously. “I still have a very harro- _wing_ journey to make to the store, after all.”

He was quickly dropped to the floor, barely even trying to catch himself. “Aw, Paps!”

The list was dropped into his lap similarly and his brother turned around and pointedly walked away. Sans laughed. “Don’t go, Paps! I’m sorry!”

“NO, YOU’RE NOT!”

“C’mon! _Toucan_ ’t do this to me!”

“GET OUT, SANS!”

“Fine fine. Ah, you _wing_ some, you lose some.”

With that final joke, Sans quickly retreated from the house, laughing and dodging the shoe Papyrus threw his way. He was out the door as quickly as he could without teleporting, crumpled list clenched in his fist. He heard the _thump_ of the shoe hitting the wood behind him and snorted.

Finally on his long awaited journey of candy shopping, Sans let his permanent grin fall a bit.

Never had he regretted a promise so much.

At the time, it’d been fine. They’d never _actually_ get to the Surface. And if they did, there was no way humans would leave them be without a war. He figured it’d never get to that point, or if it did, he’d long since dusted.

Who would have thought they’d actually have a happy ending? Definitely not his depressed ass.

And here he was, about to ruin it.

He ran a boney hand down his face, taking a turn at the end of the block just out of view and teleporting to an alleyway besides the store. Both monsters and humans walked in and out of the front entrance, mingling within the small groups they were in. Most of the monsters recognized Sans immediately, greeting him with varied levels of enthusiasm. He simply waved back.

He wasn’t scared of anyone judging him for his wings. Over the years, he’s learned to shrug that kind of stuff off easily. Plus, he knew his family. They wouldn’t do that. And he wasn’t really dreading pity or the depressing atmosphere that would undoubtably follow (though he wasn’t exactly looking forward to it either). He’d long since accepted his fate. That was something he was really good at.

No, he was afraid of what would come _after._ The questions, the concern, the explanations he’d eventually have to give. Plus the questions that would come after _that_ as well.

Really, how many secrets would unravel because of this one, small thing?

Sans really didn’t want to shatter their peaceful worldview with his depressing past. But, he also couldn’t go back on a promise. Not again. And not for his brother.

He clenched the handle of the grocery basket. It’d probably be easier to just explain everything all at once instead of letting it stew in everyone’s minds, just leaving them to ask later on. He’d much rather get it all out now and then forget about it all together afterwards.

It was hard to be optimistic, but he really hoped it would be alright.

_Stars_ it better be alright…

He picked up the ingredients his brother wrote down quickly and efficiently. It wasn’t a long list, and thankfully there wasn’t anything that needed to be refrigerated immediately. Just meant he could spend more time at Grillby’s new bar to make it seem more like he actually walked. He collected some additional snacks and candy that he knew the others would want then went to look at the drink aisle.

As he moved to grab some iced tea (more people liked iced tea than pop, and he didn’t feel like getting scolded for giving Frisk soda _and_ sweets) his eyelights flickered to a very specific canned beverage on a lower shelf.

A grin spread across his face.

“Heheh, might as well make the moment as _humorous_ as I can.”

-:(o):-

“SANS! THEY’RE HERE! GET DOWN HERE, YOU LAZYBONES!”

“NGAAAHH! IF YOU DON’T COME HERE, I’LL DRAG YOU DOWN MYSELF, PUNK!”

Toriel giggled into her paw, taking a seat on the couch next to Alphys. The two watched amusedly as Papyrus, Undyne, and a very happy Frisk bound upstairs to get their other skeleton companion. The human had placed Flowey’s pot on the coffee table. He sat there, disgruntledly watching them run off with a roll of his eyes. “Good morning, Alphys,” Toriel greeted with a smile.

The reptile returned it shakily. “G-Good morning, Toriel!” She flinched at a crash from upstairs, followed by all too familiar yelling and a child’s laughter. “T-They seem e-excited.”

“Well, it has been a while since we’ve last all been together.”

“I-I mean, i-it’s been about a week…”

“A week is far too long,” the goat monster insisted. “We’re so used to being in the same home. It’s strange being separated now, even if it is necessary.”

“T-That’s fair. How have things been with y-you and Frisk?”

Flowey huffed.

“A-And Flowey! S-Sorry…”

Toriel smiled reassuringly while the flower kept his back to them. “It’s quite alright, dear. Don’t worry about him. He’s upset we didn’t let him in the garden last night.”

“Shut up!” he hissed, finally facing him. “Go back to your mushy family shit talk and leave me alone!”

Used to his moods, Toriel just turned her kind smile to him. “You’re as much a part of this ‘mushy family’ as we are, but as you wish.” She looked back to Alphys to address her earlier question. “We’re doing well, thank you. Frisk has been a lot of help now that there is less hands around the house. They’ve especially taken a liking to baking now! Well, and cooking. Though they only like cutting things up then.”

Flowey snorted just low enough to hear.

“T-That’s great! W-We’re still mostly getting takeout… U-Undyne tries to c-cook sometimes, a-and she’s getting better thanks to you! B-But, y’know, still…” Her small wings fluttered awkwardly on her back. After her and Undyne got together, Alphys had been working on improving her self-esteem. To start, she took to wearing cut shirts more often to show her wings. Everyone was very proud of her.

Toriel always loved to see the different kinds of wings each monster had. They were all so expressive and telling of the personality. In her opinion, no two monsters had the same set, even if some look similar. There was always some kind of characteristic that stood out. For Alphys, it was soft sprinkle of brown spots, almost like freckles on her feathers.

She honestly envied smaller wings like hers. Toriel’s own were far too big. It made housework difficult.

Still, she’d never hide them away. They were a comfort to her, and she loved them dearly.

“Well, if you ever want to come over for-“

_CRASH!_

“AH!”

“SANS!”

The laughter that followed eased their sudden concerns immediately. They watched as Frisk came bounding down the stairs two steps at a time, practically throwing themselves behind the couch with a huge grin on their face. Papyrus and Undyne were next, chasing after the child with such vigor they tripped over each other and fell to the floor at the bottom of the stairs. Despite their groans, both looked to be fighting back a smile.

Undyne was the first to regain herself, shooting to her hand and knees and glaring at the hiding human. One hand was pressed onto the skeleton’s face while the other was on his shoulder, effectively keeping him pinned. Her threatening scowl was completely ruined by Papyrus’s wing draped over her body like a hooded cape. Feathers laid out below them like blue and white confetti.

“I’M GONNA GET YOU- UHF!”

A familiar carefree smile came into view as Sans lazily came down the stairs, using Undyne’s head as a step in replacement of the few they were covering. He surprisingly didn’t have his typical jacket on. Instead, he wore a black tee with two skeletons on it. One had the other’s spine in his hand, with the words “I’ve got your back” written, suspiciously, in comic sans. His hands were buried in his sweats pockets. He raised one in greeting as he hopped off the angry fish monster. “Heya, Tor, Alph, Weed.”

Barely concealing her laughter, Toriel nodded back to him, “Good morning, Sans!”

“H-Hi, Sans!”

“YOU LITTLE-!” Undyne leapt forward to grab the smaller skeleton. Sans expertly dodged her advances, leaving her to, once again, flop on the floor.

“Do I want to know what just happened?” the goat monster asked, looking back at where her child was still hiding with amusement.

Sans shrugged, stepping to the side once again to avoid Undyne. “They came in to wake me up. I dunno how, but Undyne fell in the tornado, Papyrus knocked over my dresser, and Frisk flew across the room somehow.”

“I- they what?”

He shrugged again. “I don’t know how they managed it. Seems they took fight or flight a little too seriously.”

Papyrus and Flowey groaned at the joke while the others laughed. Undyne was still too busy trying to grab hold of the slippery skeleton.

“Well, as exciting as this all is,” Toriel stood from her spot on the couch, “I think we should probably eat something now. I brought some pie for later!”

Frisk shot up from their hiding spot. “Yeah! I helped make it!” they exclaimed excitedly.

“S-Shouldn’t we wait for Asgore to s-show up?” Alphys asked timidly.

The former queen hesitated before sighing. “Well, I can at least start preparing the table.”

“The Great Papyrus will help you!” Said skeleton shot to his feet with a few flaps of his wings and hurried to Toriel’s side excitedly. She smiled at his enthusiasm and lead the way into their kitchen.

“When’s Fluffybuns supposed to be here?” Sans asked, sidestepping a grab from Undyne once again. It was amazing that she was even still trying at this point.

Then again, this was Undyne. When did she ever give up?

“H-He should be here any second,” Alphys giggled, watching the small skeleton hop over Undyne as she threw herself his way. For a lazy monster, he really did know how to dodge (Likely because of his HP, but she refused to think about that right now). This wasn’t the first time him and the Captain had gotten into a game of Cat and Mouse, but it was just as amusing as always. “We l-live closer, s-so we got here a little early.”

“Yeah, I could tell. Ruined my plans. I was gonna nap until noon, but you guys _had_ to get here ten minutes early.” He ducked under the fish monster and stepped away from her flailing swipe immediately afterward.

“GAAHH! STAY STILL!”

“Nah, I’m good.”

“YOU LITTLE-!”

Standing by the front door, Sans grinned, threw it open, and stepped to the side. On the other side, Asgore, clad in a simple flowery button up, had his paw raised to knock, a surprised look on his face. Undyne barreled directly into his chest.

The king huffed at the sudden weight but didn’t fall over. His large white wings shot out to balance the two of them, the paw previously raised settling on Undyne’s shoulder while his other held a paper bag. The room went silent, broken only when Sans peaked around the door and snorted at the sight.

“Damn, I thought for sure you two’d at least fall on your butts.”

His words got a muffled snicker from Alphys, who still looked a little mortified. Frisk straight up laughed.

When she finally realized what happened, Undyne went bright red and scurried away from her king. “I am so sorry!”

He just chuckled heartily. “It is quite alright, Undyne. I can see it was a set up for both of us.” His wings folded back in elegantly so he could fit through the door. He laid a paw on Sans’ shoulder as he came in, smiling down at the shorter monster. “Hello to you as well, Sans.”

“Sup.”

“AH! KING ASGORE!” Papyrus stepped out of the kitchen, his arms full of plates and silverware. “WELCOME TO OUR HOME!”

“Thank you, Papyrus.” He held up the paper bag. “Actually, I brought you two something. A small housewarming gift.”

Sans looked up at him in surprise. “Oh, hey, you didn’t have to get us nothin’.”

“Nonsense! A new home is very important, and it should be celebrated accordingly.” He passed the bag to Sans. “It’s nothing big. Just a little something to make the house a bit warmer.”

Papyrus hurriedly put what he held down on the table to rush to his brother’s side. Sans smiled at the goat monster thankfully and pulled the gift from the bag.

It was a large, framed photo of their picture together on the surface. It wasn’t their first photo, as that had been taken on a polaroid immediately after coming down from the mountain trails. This one was taken by Mettaton, who’s face could be seen in the right side of the photo. It had all of them together on the ledge beside the Undergound’s exit. Frisk sat in Toriel’s lap, holding on tightly to Flowey’s pot. Toriel’s wings laid around them like a robe, the end feathers draped over ledge mere feet from their spot. Alphys and Undyne were in a similar position besides the three, though they had their feet hanging off the cliff edge (Alphys was smiling rather shakily at the camera, clearly not a fan of the dangerous position, but also not wanting to move from her girlfriend’s lap). Sans stood in front of Asgore in the far back, Napstablook at his side. He was the only one not looking at the camera, instead choosing the gaze at the sunset. Papyrus stood proudly behind all of them, his scarf fluttering in the wind and wings on proud display.

In the background were countless monsters emerging from the dark cavern that lead to their previous prison, each one marveling at the sun or excitedly hopping into the air for the first time ever.

Sans honestly forgot they’d taken this picture.

Papyrus squealed in delight, picking up the frame from his brother’s grasp and holding it out like it was a priceless artifact. “THIS IS PERFECT!” he exclaimed.

“That’s…” A genuine smile came across Sans’ face. He turned back to the king. “Thanks, Fluffybuns.”

Asgore snorted, rubbing Sans’ head affectionately. “Of course, boys.”

“THIS MUST BE HUNG UP AT ONCE!”

“Maybe after we eat, Papyrus,” Toriel said, standing just outside the kitchen door. She smiled warmly; wings gracefully held at her sides. The table beside her was all set up, missing only the food. “Help me carry the food and drinks in, please?”

“OF COURSE!” He set the picture on the coffee table besides Flowey, who looked at in curiously. He raised an eyebrow at it but didn’t scoff or spit at it. Small steps. Frisk smiled at the plant monster before turning to help with the food.

“I should probably help too,” Sans sighed. At everyone’s confused looks, he winked. “Don’t want Paps purposefully leaving the sweets and chips behind.”

“Oh god, please no.” Undyne immediately followed after him.

“A-Aren’t we eating b-breakfast though? Er, b-brunch?”

“Yes, but knowing him, he’ll try to hide them somewhere in the kitchen ahead of time.”

“O-Oh, that’s fair.”

“Yeah, I like anything him and Tori have cooked up, but we need some sort of unhealthy grub as well.”

“I don’t know how you can stand eating so much junk food!” Papyrus yelled, passing his brother with several plates of pancakes. His wings were stiffly stuck out to his side, curled in slightly to avoid hitting anyone. “It’s disgusting!”

“You just don’t have the _stomach_ for it.”

“OH MY GOD, SANS.”

Snickering, Sans ducked into the kitchen to avoid his brother’s wrath. Amongst him, Toriel, Frisk, Undyne, and Papyrus (though Undyne only focused on bringing the snacks he bought into the livingroom for later), they were able to get everything to the dining room in no time. While everyone was sitting down, Sans made his way back into the room with a different beverage than the glass of tea and the bottle of ketchup sitting beside his plate. He calmly strode up to his seat but didn’t sit down.

“Sans, what is that?”

His grin widened. “Redbull.”

Undyne blinked in bewilderment. “You mean you’re _not_ gonna drink _ketchup_? That’s like, you’re thing.” Her wings fluffed up behind her. “Not that I’m _encouraging_ it. It’s fuuuu- _ricking_ gross.”

Amazed, Papyrus leapt from his seat. “MY BROTHER? DRINKING SOMETHING NORMAL?!”

“Honestly hadn’t pegged you for an energy drink kinda guy. Especially with breakfast.”

Frisk wrinkled their nose at the thought.

He shrugged, popping the can open. “I dunno. I’ve never tried it. Just thought I’d try something new. Besides,” he winked at his brother, who was already dreading the oncoming joke, “heard somewhere that _‘Redbull gives you wings.’_ ”

Suddenly, Papyrus looked to be struggling with what to feel. He wanted to be mad, but the implications far outweighed the pun. “I- now?!”

“Don’t give me a chance to back out, Paps. I will take it.”

Unable to formulate words in his excitement, the younger just nodded. Everyone else, having been confused before, suddenly caught on. Even Flowey perked up.

“WAIT SERIOUSLY?!” Undyne shouted, grinning ear to ear. “FUCK YEAH! FINALLY!”

No one bothered to correct her language.

“S-Sans!” Alphys stared at him in shock. “A-Are you s-sure about this? I-I mean… T-That’s… p-pretty big!”

“Eh. I’m tired of concealing it all the time anyway.”

He felt a tug at his shirt. Looking down, he caught the worried gaze of Frisk, probably the only one in the room that understood him the most, despite their age. Sans gave them a reassuring smile and pat their head with his other hand. The concern never left, but Determination and pride flashed in their eyes as well.

Heh. What a good kid. The source of all of his nightmares, but a good kid overall.

“You guys are really making a bigger deal out of this than it actually is,” he muttered. Still, he brought the can to his mouth and downed half of it in one gulp.

He waited for a moment, then set the can down.

“Yeah, ketchup is way better. Think I’ll stick to that.”

“SANS!”

With a final chuckle, Sans figured there was no use procrastinating any long and finally let go of the magic he’s held on to for so long.

The room went silent.

It wasn’t a new sensation. No matter how much he didn’t want to, he _did_ have to clean it every so often. Maybe once a month or so he’d let go in their bathroom to wash off the feathers. Just basic wing hygiene. Yet somehow, it felt entirely different in the presence of seven (technically eight) curious pairs of eyes. He felt exposed, more vulnerable then he’d ever felt in any timeline.

There was no fanfare or flashes of light. He had made sure to put on a shirt with slits in the back (and a joke on the front, of course), so it came out with no resistance. In the end, it just looked like he’d had it folded tightly against his back the whole time.

His left wing stretched out almost shyly to his side, not straying too far. Unlike the others, he wasn’t quite so used to how large it was anymore, so he didn’t trust himself to not knock anything over. The feathers were dark and dim with the slightest hint of navy blue, a far cry from the bright yellow and cyan shimmer they used to have. They weren’t pretty by any means. Most were ruffled, crooked, or missing all together (that was kind of his fault. Sans had cleaned it last night, and a few fell out in the process).

His right wing was nonexistent.

Nothing remained but a small, barely feathered nub on his upper back, easily hidden by his shirt despite the slit. He _felt_ it there, though – felt the slight ghost of pain on his shoulder that typically came with letting them out – but he knew it was long gone.

No one spoke. He didn’t look up to meet anyone’s eyes.

He let the single wing move to his side, running a hand down the rough feathers. “Huh,” he muttered. “Maybe I should have drank more than half the can after all.”

No one else found this funny. He didn’t really expect them to.

“S-Sans…” Alphys whimpered, her clawed hand pressed over her mouth.

“What the hell…” Undyne muttered, uncharacteristically quiet.

His brother didn’t say a word, but he could hear the slight rattling of shaking bones.

Sans tried to shrug it off, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “Don’t worry ‘bout it too much.”

“Don’t-“ Undyne stood up abruptly. “DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT?! How the hell are we supposed to _not worry about this?!_ What the hell happened?!”

“It was a long time ago-“

“Sans.” A large, furry paw laid on his shoulder. He honestly hadn’t noticed Asgore move next to him. “What happened?”

“Who the _fuck_ do I have to kill?!”

“U-Undyne,” Toriel murmured, barely audible as she tried to hold back tears. “Language.”

His eyelights blinked out for a split second before coming back to normal. “Can’t kill what’s already dead. Or at least, he’s good as dead.”

Alphys’s breath stuttered. “Y-You m-m-mean- I-I… S-Someo-one a-actually…?!”

“Cut it off?” he finished for her, completely monotone. The short monster looked like she might puke.

“B-Brother…” Papyrus finally stood from his chair as well, looking at the other skeleton with a horrified expression. Sans didn’t like that look. “Why didn’t you ever…?”

Sighing, Sans ran a hand down his face, his typical grin unnaturally straight. “Look, it was a _long_ time ago. Really, it’s fine. I don’t wanna ruin the day with my tragic anime backstory. I promise, I’m fine.”

Little arms wrapped around his waist as Frisk buried their face in his chest. “You could _never_ ruin our day,” they insisted, tightening their grip. He awkwardly laid his hands on their head and shoulder in a very loose return hug. “Please, Sans…”

“F-Frisk is right,” Toriel stated, staring at him with stern, motherly eyes, still glossy with unshed tears. “Let us help you, Sans. We’re _family_.”

“If not even Papyrus knew about this, then you _definitely_ haven’t talked to anyone about it,” Undyne deduced, crossing her arms and folding her own wings. “That’s a lot to bottle up. I know you hide a lot of crap, and whatever, have your secrets, that’s fine. But this? This is serious.”

“I really-“

“Sans, please.” Asgore’s large white wing reached around him comfortingly, embracing his own just barely. The king’s was still far larger than his own, but it wasn’t by much, surprisingly. His wings weren’t so much big as they were long. They weren’t disproportionate to his smaller body, but their length definitely outclassed his brother’s.

His eyelights flickered around the room, meeting the eyes of everyone briefly, searching for an out. The only one that didn’t radiate comfort and care was Flowey. Even then, he looked _very_ curious rather than gleeful or sadistic, but he wasn’t somber either.

Surprisingly, that neutrality was the most comforting thing of all.

He debated the idea of shortcutting away, as was usually his response to overwhelming, personal moments like this. He could go right to his room again, lock the door, and curl up on his bed. Or he could go to Grillby’s for a while, drown his worries in ketchup until his brother eventually dragged him back. He could shatter that little vial of ink, leave the universe all together and wait for everyone to forget this was even a conversation.

He wouldn’t do any of that, but it was a nice thought.

He’d already decided before hand that if they wanted him to, he’d tell them most everything. It was much easier than answering their questions. At least this way, he’d have control over when they found out.

Letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, Sans finally nodded.

“Fine… but afterward, we go right back to our plans for today. I was really looking forward to beating Undies at Mario Kart again.”

She snorted, but otherwise didn’t comment on the obvious diss. The others merely smiled and moved to sit back down again. Frisk refused to move. He raised a brow at the human.

“You gonna let go, Kiddo?”

They shook their head.

“I need ta sit down, y’know. Kinda hard to move with you practically on my toes.”

They Refused.

Snickering, Sans resigned to his fate and waddled over to his chair. Frisk moved their feet onto his to make for better traveling. When he reached the chair, he sat down and adjusted them in his lap. All the while, they still held on to his ribs.

What a dork. At least Sans knew it was Frisk and not Chara. They would have stomped on his foot or something.

Didn’t mean Chara wasn’t watching, though. He didn’t like not knowing where the brat was in the room, or what they were expressing, especially at a time like this.

Must not be anything bad, if Frisk wasn’t reacting to it. There was some comfort in that.

“Alrighty,” he started, letting his wing stretch out behind Alphys’s seat to his left. The joints popped. The others settled down in their own chairs, ready to listen to his tale. He took a moment to compose himself, then decided to just jump right in. “I don’t know how many know this, but I worked with Alph as a scientist a while back. Nothing big, just an assistant. But still, working with the Royal Scientist – the one before Alphys, I mean – was cool.” He leaned back in his chair, careful to keep the right wing nub from pressing into the wood. “What’s less known is that he was mine and Paps’s father.”

Alphys perked up at that. “Wait, really?!”

“Don’t get too excited about that.” He winked her way, despite the heavy atmosphere. “But yeah, really really. He was a good dad, too. A little awkward when talking to the two of us, so it was easy to tell he didn’t have a lot of child experience, but he did his best. He was the reason I loved science so much. Plus, you could tell he just adored our mom.” A somber smile grew on his face. It’d been a long time since he’d thought of their mother. Nobody had cameras from the Surface at that time, at least not anyone they knew, so all he has are his memories of her and a couple child’s drawings.

She had the most beautiful ivory wings, in his personal opinion. They weren’t very big, but none of theirs really were.

“I don’t… remember any of this…” Papyrus muttered, looking troubled. “I always thought it was just you and me.”

“Nah, we had to come from somewhere, right? And you were just a babybones at the time, so it’s understandable. I mean, mom died when you were… one or two maybe?”

“She died?” Asgore whispered forlornly. “I… I think I remember that. It was one of the fallen humans, right? She was…”

“Protecting me, yeah. The dumb, curious child.” Sans nodded, clearly done with that topic, wrapping his arms around Frisk when they tightened their own hold on him. “Yeah… uh, anyway. So, she died, and Dad kinda… lost it a little. Mom was his everything, y’know? And I get it. She was mine too, before Paps. He got a bit testy and short tempered with the people he worked with and a bit distant with us, but at the time I just figured, hey, he’s grieving. I was too.”

“How old were you?” Toriel asked. Her paws were set firmly in her lap, eyes expressing great sympathy. Or was it empathy? She’d lost quite a bit as well.

“Eh, I was just getting out of middle school, I think. Maybe thirteen or fourteen.”

“Wait wait wait.” Wings shot out to her side (knocking over an empty chair to her left), Undyne threw a disbelieving look his way. “ _You’re_ the older brother?! By like, twelve years?!”

He smirked. “Yup.”

Papyrus furrowed his brows as much as a skeleton could. “Undyne, I’ve told you this before…”

“YOU DID?!”

“Someone drew the _short_ stick when it came to genetics…” Flowey muttered mostly to himself.

“Eh. Mom was pretty short too.” Frisk pulled on his sleeve, giving him a knowing look. He sighed, getting back on topic. “Anyways, she died, Dad threw himself into his work and just overall blocked himself off. Suddenly, it was my job to take care of Paps and the house. Made dinner, pick up, figure out babysitters, put him to bed, make sure Dad ate, all while keeping up with school. Basically took up the mother roll and let him figure himself out.”

“That’s far too much responsibility for a child!” Toriel exclaimed.

Sans shrugged, but otherwise ignored the claim. “This went on for a few months before I started to think maybe this wasn’t just grieving anymore. I tried talking to him about it but that… didn’t go over well.” Grinning depressively, Sans turned his gaze away from everyone, instead focusing on the wood pattern of the table. “Turns out I wasn’t the only one that blamed me for her death. Probably shoulda guessed that.”

“Oh, Sans…”

“I don’t know exactly what happened,” Undyne spoke up, pointing an accusing finger his way, “but it definitely _wasn’t_ your fault. You were still in stripes!”

“He shouldn’t have treated you any differently,” Asgore agreed, shaking his head disappointedly.

“Nah, don’t worry about that part. I’ve had a long time to think about that. I know I’m not to blame now. It was an accident.” This was true. If nothing else, the Resets gave him plenty of time to reflect. He’d had a _long_ time to think on past actions back when he believed his _current_ actions didn’t matter. Despite everything his father and his own mind had told him, Sans knew what happened with his mother was not his fault. Heck, it wasn’t really the human’s fault either. Fear can do a lot to a young mind. Lashing out isn’t outside the realm of possibilities.

“But, no matter what I think now, I certainly felt guilty about it then. Long story short, he, uh, got a bit lippy after that. Made more remarks towards me than before, snapped at Paps for being too loud on occasion, but overall, just went back to ignoring us. It got… kinda lonely in the house. I mean, I knew Alph in school, and I played with Paps whenever I could, but y’know, couldn’t really invite people over or hang out when I had a babybone to take care of.” His white eyelights shot towards Papyrus, already expecting the guilty expression. “Don’t feel bad about that, by the way. I loved takin’ care of ya. Got to see you grow up firsthand. I wouldn’t change that for the world.”

That made his brother smile, even if only a slight tilt. Sans would take that over that depressed frown any day.

“Anywho, I threw myself into my studies around that time.” He patted the human’s head a little, trying to get them to relax a bit. He hadn’t even gotten to the bad part yet. “Thought if Dad wasn’t gonna acknowledge us, maybe if I could score an apprenticeship with him at the labs like Alph did, he’d, I dunno, come back to us, ‘er somethin’.” Here, he paused, taking the time to look around at everyone in the room. “Now, I only said all that starting stuff to prove that, despite anything else, Dad wasn’t… well, he wasn’t _always_ a bad person. He cared about us, he just cared about Mom more.”

“That doesn’t excuse anything,” Toriel insisted. The others nodded with varying levels of energy.

“Maybe not. Just telling you how I see it.” His wing flicked behind him as if brushing the words off.

“I suspect the apprenticeship didn’t change much then?” the king asked, already knowing the answer.

“Nope,” Sans confirmed, popping the P. “If anything, it made things worse. Just meant he _had_ to talk to me now, and he didn’t have many nice things to say. I had to leave Paps with a babysitter most days. Thankfully, Grillbz lived in Hotland then, and he and his sister didn’t charge me for the extra time. Which was great, because the old man _loved_ putting a crap load of work on me to make me stay overnight.”

“What an asshole,” Undyne sneered, crossing her arms and fluffing up her feathers.

Sans snorted. “Yeah, pretty much. He was like that for a while until…” He paused, smile fading just a little more. “He started acting… weirder. Like, suddenly not as mean? And he started making us dinner again. Not very often, but occasionally. It honestly threw off my groove for a bit, but I didn’t want to piss him off, so I just rolled with it. Thought, hey, maybe he’s changed? Maybe he’ll go back to being our Dad again?” His eyelights blinked out. “Heh. Then Paps got sick.”

The room went dead quiet at the obvious implication.

“Brought him to Grillbz, just to make sure I was taking care of him right. He told me it was likely a skeleton flu or some kinda magic sickness that was common for baby monsters and to just keep him warm, fed, and rested. So I did. Realized real quick that something else was wrong when he threw up some _very_ familiar liquids. Stuff I’d seen at the labs. Stuff we hadn’t _tested_ yet.”

“Oh my stars.” The mother goat looked like she’d be sick any moment herself. Alphys and Papyrus looked to be in a similar state. Everyone else was fuming.

“W-What… was…” Alphys gulped, almost afraid to know the answer.

Dark blue feathers ruffled with his annoyance. “We’d been studying human soul traits at the time.”

The yellow lizard squeaked in horror.

“What the fuck?” Flowey exclaimed, looking surprisingly disturbed. “The bastard put Liquid Traits in his fucking food?! That’s disgusting!”

“Liquid Justice and Liquid Patience, to be exact. And it wasn’t just Paps’s food.” Toriel outright _sobbed_ at this. Sans gave her an apologetic look, but she waved it off with a sniffle and gestured for him to continue. “It… didn’t sit well for Paps, but it wasn’t effecting me. At least, not too drastically? I noticed a huge increase in magic, and with it, my wings grew a bit. I immediately stopped taking _anything_ from Dad and went back to feeding Paps myself. He… didn’t like that, but we made… a compromise.”

“No.”

Sans looked up at his brother. “Papyrus-“

“No!” The taller skeleton stood up, his wings flaring out. “Why would you make a deal with him?! Why would you _let him_ use you, Sans?! You can’t-!”

“So that he’d leave _you_ alone!” Sans slapped his hand on the table and glared back. “My body could take it! _Yours was dying!_ I couldn’t just…! Let him do that!”

“You should have gotten _help!_ ”

“ _I know what I should have done!_ But I didn’t, okay?! I still had some rotten hope that he’d come around if I just went with what he said!”

The group fell into a heavy silence, broken only by the occasional sniffle. Frisk had taken to rubbing his back to calm his nerves – at least, they tried, from where their small arms could actually reach. It wasn’t really working, but he appreciated the thought.

When his brother eventually lost the anger that had fueled him previously, both skeletons slumped back into their seats. They all basked in the calmness after the outburst for a while before Asgore spoke up.

“If you wish to stop now, Sans, we’d understand.”

Undyne perked up and stared at him in disbelief. “What?! But-!”

“Undyne.” Toriel laid a paw on her shoulder and sent her a disapproving look. “This is a lot all at once, for all of us, but most of all Sans and Papyrus. Be a little more considerate.” She turned her kind gaze back to where Sans had his skull propped on his hands. “If you wish to continue, we will gladly stay. But if you want to stop, that is fine as well.”

Frisk nodded furiously against his chest. He snorted, bring one boney hand back to lay on their head. That small smile fell as he considered his options for a moment. Everyone waited for his response.

Finally, with a sigh, he sat back up and shook his head. “Nah… I’ll never finish if I don’t do it now. Besides, not much left to tell of this tale anyway.”

“Would you like a break? We haven’t actually eaten breakfast yet. We could continue afterwards, if you’d like.”

He hesitated, then shook his head. “Uh, you guys can eat something. I’ve kinda lost my appetite.”

No one moved to get anything (Alphys leaned forward to grab a strawberry from the fruit bowl, but otherwise didn’t seem any more enthusiastic about food than everyone else). Sans had a feeling all those pancakes would be saved for the next morning.

“Right… So, he kept injecting me with the same two traits and checking my vitals for a while. Like I said before, my magic was growing pretty rapidly, and my wings had almost doubled in size. I had better control over attacks, and was…” He faltered, wondering just how much he was willing to spill in the moment. His ability to Judge – that is, see the EXP and LV of a soul with just a quick glance – wasn’t one he took very lightly. In the end, he decided that was a can of worms he didn’t feel like opening right now. “I got a few extra bone moves I didn’t have before.” Giant animal skulls that shot beams of energy counted as “bone moves”, right? “Overall, nothing too impressive. He seemed interested, but overall, not amazed or anything. Meanwhile, I was just having a harder time fitting through doors, and not because I’m big boned.” Toriel and Frisk snickered a bit, drawing a smile back to his face, even if only for a moment.

“It, uh, must have gotten boring eventually, ‘cause he upped his game.” His wing pulled in as if to comfort him itself. “He… mixed a bit of Determination in with the usual dose. Not a lot, ‘cause that’s lethal, but… enough.”

Alphys choked. “B-B-But! T-That’s not… I h-haven’t…! S-Sans, _any_ a-amount of…! Y-You…!”

“Any amount of Determination is _lethal_ , Trashbag,” Flowey summed up for her. “How the hell are you not a pile of mushy dust or some shit?”

“Heh.” Sans shrugged, eye sockets dark. “I dunno. Maybe he got just the right amount. Maybe it was because it was mixed with Justice and Patience, not to mention the stuff that was already flowin’ through my bones. Maybe I’m just _owl_ -some like that.” He winked, though it didn’t have quite the same effect with his eyelights blacked out. “What I do know is that it was the second most painful experience in my life. My magic shot up way too fast, and my stats were dropping by the second. All I remember was pain, fear, and absolute darkness. I honestly couldn’t tell you how I survived, just that I did. And when I eventually came to, it was to my dad yelling at Papyrus for something or another, and him crying on the floor next to me.”

Said skeleton shook in his seat, his hands held in the air like he didn’t know whether to reach for his brother or wrap them around himself. “S-Sans…”

Sans turned his head away. “I grabbed your arm, and…” He paused, once again wondering how much he was willing to share. He quickly decided his shortcuts weren’t really _secret_ , but more something he liked to use to confuse people. It was all fun and laughs, but honestly, being able to use that freely on the Surface would be extremely useful. There were a lot of monster haters up here. Who knows when they’d need a quick getaway? “And… then we were at Grillby’s house.”

Undyne blinked. “Wait, what?”

“You passed out, then?” the former queen asked. “Who brought you there?”

He shook his head. “Nah, didn’t pass out until after Grillbz came runnin’. Turns out, a monster infused with human Traits – or, more likely, one infused with specifically Determination – gets fancy new abilities.” His eyelights returned and he sent them a slightly amused look, “Ya didn’t actually think I knew _that many_ secret paths through the Underground, didja? Nah. ‘Shortcutting’s just my lazy way of teleporting around.”

“YOU CAN TELEPORT?!” Undyne screeched, throwing her hand in the air.

“Yup.”

“AND YOU DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING?!”

“Nope.”

“WHY NOT?!”

He winked. “It’s more fun that way.”

“YOU- NGAHH!”

Frisk quietly snickered into his shirt. He grinned down at them. The mood wasn’t totally lifted, but it was better.

Especially with what happened afterwards.

“Yeah, had a blast explaining all this to Grillbz without _actually_ explaining anything,” he continued, then shrugged. “But if there’s one good thing that came out of this, it was me finally realizing my dad wasn’t gonna come around. Or, moreover, he’d end up hurting Paps if I didn’t do something now. So, I stayed the night with Grillbz and his sister and went to the lab like normal.” Sans bowed his head a bit. “I was planning on dropping out of the apprenticeship and moving away with Paps. Technically, that’s exactly what I did. But, um, this is where things get a bit complicated.”

“More complicated than it already is?” Flowey asked with a scoff.

Sans nodded. “Kinda, yeah. Alph, you mentioned you don’t remember the Doctor, right?”

She just nodded, likely not trusting her voice at the moment.

“And Asgore, don’t think you remember his name either, do you?”

The king paused, then looked a bit troubled. “I… don’t believe I do. You said he was the Royal Scientist?”

“Mhm.” Shifting a bit and readjusting the kid in his lap, Sans flicked his wing and continued. “Dr. W.D. Gaster. Famous for building the Core, yet no one remembers his name.” That got some troubled looks all around, as he’d expected. “He’d been working on a way to use the Core’s power and Human Soul Traits to break the barrier without any more souls. When I’d approached him, he was, well,” he snorted a bit. “He was at the core of the Core. The reactor main room in the very center. You can imagine he wasn’t all that happy to see me, let alone hear what I had to say.”

“Yeah, well, he can deal with it,” Undyne grumbled to herself, crossing her arms angrily.

“Well, he didn’t. Actually, he lashed out.”

“He fought you?!” Toriel gasped.

“Oh, yeah. He was completely pissed. But ironically, all that experimenting made me pretty tough to beat. I had shit stats, but my HP was still pretty high.” Alphys made a noise at that, but it was quiet enough for no one to really take notice of it. “He wasn’t really built for battling anymore, and unfortunately for him, he’d basically made a _weapon_ outta me. He recognized that pretty quick. _That’s_ when he started… getting a little dirty.”

His right scapula throbbed in a harsh, nonexistent pain.

“He started aiming for my wings.”

Wings were by no means a monster’s _weakness_. Many monsters that had been trained in fighting use wings as a sort of shield to block attacks from hitting anything vital. Some have even used them as weapons, wielding soft feathers like knives. Despite being an extension of the soul, they were not fragile or powerless.

However, they weren’t invincible either.

Because wings were an extension of the soul, aiming for them was considered the lowest form of fighting and was usually a last-ditch effort. Removing someone’s wings or injuring them to the point of uselessness was, culturally, equivalent to torture or even murder. They were _important_.

The room grew incredibly heavy before he continued.

“He managed to get a good enough hit in that I was disoriented for a moment. He took this time to grab one of my wings and shoot a bone attack right through the base of it.” He shivered, curling into the kid’s embrace a bit. The moment flashed through his mind on repeat. The sound of a bone bursting from the floor behind him, the crack of it impaling the limb, and the absolute _pain_ that followed immediately afterwards.

Through all the shit he’s been through, all the times he’d died or been beaten down to nothing, _that_ was the most excruciating pain he’d ever felt.

Swallowing nervously, Sans continued, “At that point, we had a bit of an audience. A few people from his team heard the skirmish and came to check it out. They saw him, uh, r-ripping what was left of… It wasn’t fully… They came in to stop him.” He refused to look at anyone, but he could tell some of them were fully crying now. “Tore him off my back, even as he continued to fight. One of his attacks hit the machine he’d been working on and…” Taking a breath, Sans sat up straighter and shrugged. “I dunno exactly what happened. I crawled my way out of the room, there was a flash and a bunch of yells, and when I managed to turn around, the room was empty. The machine was sparking and had fallen over. It wasn’t even plugged in to the Core anymore. Everyone was just… gone.”

“G-Gone?” Alphys stuttered, her glasses on the table so she could wipe at her eyes. “L-Like… i-incinerated?”

“I thought that too, but I was scared they’d just been teleported somewhere, since, well, I knew that was possible now. So I ‘ported home to get away.”

“You went _home_?” Undyne looked at him in confusion. “Why not Grillby’s?”

“I didn’t want Paps to see me like I was.” He shrugged, finally looking up a bit. As expected, about half the table had tears running down their face, Undyne, Asgore, and Flowey being the exceptions. Frisk’s fists clenched on his shirt, but they kept their face pressed into his chest. It didn’t seem as though they were crying though. The comedian wondered if they gave Chara control. “I was gonna call Grillby when I got there, but between having my wing torn off and using all my magic to fight then teleport, I was exhausted. Passed out right there.”

He shifted in his chair, pushing away the memories and the pain with them. “Woke up a while later to my phone buzzing.” He remembered being covered in red liquid and was so confused as to _why_. Skeletons didn’t bleed. It had taken a while to realize it was likely Determination. It was stronger than Patience and Justice, even in the small amount he had, so it had essentially taken over his system. “There was a bunch of texts from Alph. She was excited, ‘cause she’d been given the position of Royal Scientist, and was asking where I was. You can imagine my confusion. I asked her why she had gotten promoted so fast, but she said the position had been open for a while.”

“What does that even mean?” Undyne grumbled.

“I-I remember that…” Said lizard monster sniffled to his left. “I-I didn’t understand your question. A-And t-the ones a-after that. I-I didn’t know who y-you were talking about…”

Sans nodded. “Yeah. Weird how you knew you were working for the Royal Scientist, but also believed the position had been open for a while. You forgot all of them. Doctor Gaster _and_ his team. I figured it out when I realized all their contacts in my phone had been replaced with gibberish and error messages.”

“So they were erased from our memories?” Asgore asked softly.

“More like erased from history. I looked into it a bit, after I’d patched myself up and figured out how to hide my wing.” He chucked mirthlessly. “Benefits of having so much magical energy, I guess. The machine he’d been working on was supposed to create a ripple in time and space so that we could have a sort of… pathway from here to the surface. Completely bypass the Barrier all together. Kinda like my shortcuts, but more powerful. It was his secret project, I guess. When it malfunctioned, it scattered them across time and space instead, completely wiping their existence from our universe.”

“But everything they’d done up until then was still there,” Flowey deduced. Sans nodded, and the flower turned a curious glare his way. “How come you remember them?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s either because Determination gives you access to memories usually erased, or because my wing had gotten sucked in with them, so I’m partially in that space as well. I’ve tried to figure that out for a long time, but can’t really find a solid answer without, like, fixing the machine. And stars knows I’m not all to _keen_ on doing that.” He shivered. “I was trying to for a while, thinking I could get everyone back. As much as I’d _love_ to let Daddy Dearest rot, I did feel bad for the others. But I also don’t want to get sucked in as well — or worse, dooming even more monsters. So, I trashed that project. It’s one of the many things I left behind in the Underground.”

“T-That’s w-why you left s-so quickly…”

“Yeah, I packed up and moved to Snowden pretty fast. Had to scrounge for food on the streets for a few months, but Grillby decided to open a bar and grill there instead of Hotland without realizing that’s where I was, so I picked up a job there for a bit. Eventually got our house and have been raising Paps there ever since.”

“And got like five jobs,” Undyne added. She leaned forward to address him more clearly. “Why didn’t you ever tell anyone about your wings? Er, wing?”

“What was I supposed to say?” he shot back. “That the former Royal Scientist that no one remembers poisoned me and tore my wing off before getting erased from history? I’d look crazy. I probably look crazy now.”

Flowey shrugged his leaves like arms. “You always look crazy, Trashbag.”

Sans sent a deadpanned glare his way. “Thanks, Weed.”

A disgruntled look came across the plant’s face. “But, with as much shit as we’ve seen and done, I can’t say your crazy story is outside the realm of possibilities.”

“That’s his way of saying he trusts your word,” Frisk muttered into his shirt, ignoring Flowey’s angry refusal as they turned their eyes up to him. Meeting their gaze, Sans took notice of the red gleam to their squinted eyes.

Ah. Chara confirmed. He didn’t know how he felt with having this child on his lap anymore.

“We all trust your word, brother,” Papyrus agreed. His face was dry of orange tears once again, but his hands were still shaking. Whether it was out of anger or sadness, Sans wasn’t sure. Probably a mix of both. “I always have and always will. I… wish you would have told me sooner but thank you for telling me now.” He looked like he wanted to ask something more but kept quiet after a short glance around the room.

“You are a very brave monster, Sans,” Toriel said softly, giving him a still watery smile. “Do come to any of us if you need support, alright?”

“You shouldn’t hold on to things like this alone,” Asgore said to his right, his large wing still a comfortable warmth across his back. “You’ve been strong this long. Let us help you now.”

Sans forced a grin onto his face. He already had a whole group of similarly scared skeletons he chatted with and he’d rather not drag his family into his issues any more than he already has.

It was nice to know they cared, though.

Alphys nervously tapped her claws on the table, having been staring at her plate of cold food silently for quite some time. When she was able to speak up, it was more stuttery than usual. “I-I don’t r-remember you’re f-father, b-but…” She rubbed her hands together nervously. “I-I do remember y-you g-getting more t-tired and j-jumpy as the days w-went by. I… I-I didn’t realize it was b-because of the D-Doctor… I-I’m so sorry, Sans… I-I could-d h-have… a-and your w-wings, I-I was _t-texting_ you, I-I knew s-something was-! B-But I d-didn’t-!”

“Don’t apologize. I kept family life pretty hush hush, even back then. I probably spewed some bullcrap about needing an excuse to nap through history class or something.” He sent her a reassuring gaze. “And like you said, you were texting me. About your dream promotion, no less. You had _no way_ of knowing. Don’t beat yourself up over something you _didn’t_ _know_.”

“But I should have!” Shocked by her own outburst, Alph slapped her hands over her mouth, but didn’t relent anyway. “W-We were b-best friends i-in h-high school. I s-should have n-noticed s-something was w-wrong! T-That was _your_ d-dream j-job as well, Sans! I-I-I should have _known_ s-something wasn’t r-right when… when y-you quit s-so abruptly! I-I was a _horrible_ friend!”

He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Alph, you were my _best friend_. Honestly, you still are. If anything, I’m the piece of shit that left you behind. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Squeezing her shoulder, Sans leaned down to face her better. “Hell, I’d have lost my mind dealing with the Doc had you not been there every day! You were one of the only things keeping me sane. Don’t underestimate your helpfulness.”

With a sniffle, Alphys threw herself into his arms besides Chara, pressing her face into his shoulder. He was a little uncomfortable with the sudden attention but patted her back none the less.

It was a nice moment.

Undyne shot to her feet on the other side of the table, her grin wide and her wings spread. There was a slight evil tint to her eyes Sans didn’t trust. “GROUP HUG!” she decreed, running around the table to leap in and scoop the three of them into her arms. “YOU CAN’T DODGE ME NOW, PUNK! FUHUHUHU!”

It _was_ a nice moment…

Soon, everyone had gathered around his chair and had their arms wrapped around each other. Toriel even grabbed Flowey, despite his raging complaints, and had him pulled up to her chest between her and Papyrus. Chara was grumbling a bit in his arms, but he could tell they weren’t totally opposed to the whole thing.

Despite being pinned to a crazy, cackling fish monster, one arm working hard to not let the kid fall while the other was getting poked by Alphys’ spikes, his wing bent awkwardly around them all… he felt happy.

Yeah, out of all the outcomes, this was definitely the best timeline.

When they were all hugged out and he was released back to the floor (Chara took a noticeable step away from him — whether for his own comfort or theirs, he didn’t know), the group looked at the very cold brunch still on the table.

“Well, I don’t know about you all,” Toriel started, placing a very grumpy Flowey back on the table, “but I’m famished. I’ll pack the pancakes away for tomorrow, but the fruit and pie are still good to eat right now.”

“W-We could, um, b-bring it into the living room?” Alphys suggested, wiping her glasses off on her shirt. “S-So we can watch s-something or…”

“NGAHHH YOU AND ME, FUNNY MAN! MARIO KART! I’M GONNA WIPE THE TRACK WITH THAT SHHHH-CRAP EATING GRIN!”

Sans snorted. “Whatever you say, Undies.”

“STOP CALLING ME THAT!” With that, she dashed into the living room with Alphys under her arm and the human hot on her heels. Chara had picked Flowey off the counter again, who was complaining about being man handled everywhere. The human just snorted and continued following the Royal Guard Captain.

Asgore patted Sans on the head with a smile. “I’ll help Toriel with packing the food. You two go ahead.”

“Yeah, we’ll bring the grub into the living room.”

When the dining room was empty, leaving just the brothers, Sans turned towards Papyrus. “Welp, let’s start taking-“

Papyrus dropped to his knees and pulled Sans in for another hug, much to the older’s surprise. He soon found himself enveloped in warm, orange-tipped feathers. “I…” He patted Papyrus’ back uncertainly. “You alright there, bro?”

“That’s my question.” The hug tightened and Papyrus pressed his face in the crook of Sans’ neck. It reminded him of when Paps was a babybones, cuddled in his lap on the bed. “Are _you_ okay, brother?”

Sans was silent for a moment. Then, smiling, he wrapped his arms around his brother, allowing his wing to come up and embrace him for the first time as well. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m alright.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Papyrus pulled away a little, still shielding them both with his wings. He looked down at Sans with a smile. “I don’t know if I’ve ever really thanked you, Sans.”

Sans blinked, confused. “What for?”

“Everything. Taking care of me, protecting me, doing so much for me without a second thought or expecting anything in return.”

“Shit, Paps, of course I don’t want anything in return. You’re my little bro. I swore to do anything for you since the moment I laid eyes on ya.”

“Exactly, Sans.” Papyrus’ smile dropped. “You’ve suffered so much without me knowing. You have so many nightmares about it all, and I know you still keep things from all of us. I just want you to know that I love you, and you can rely on me for anything. I am the Great Papyrus after all! And you are my Cool But Not _as_ Cool brother!”

Sans snickered. “Nah, I’m not cool, bro.”

“Nonsense! You are the coolest person I know, besides myself.”

“I disagree. I don’t got a _hip bone_ in my body.”

“But you-“ He paused, looking at the smaller skeleton’s amused smirk, then groaned and let his head fall into the palms of his hands. “I don’t know why I expected anything different.”

“Hey, you love me.”

“I regret doing so.”

“You already said it. No takesy backsies.”

Papyrus snorted. “Of course not.”

Smiling, Sans patted his brother’s shoulder. “I love you too, bro. Now, I’m officially done with this sappy family emotional roller coaster and am ready to move on to better, more important things.” He removed his wing from around Papyrus and pushed his way through the taller skeleton’s wings like they were curtains.

“You just want to beat Undyne at Mario Kart again.”

“Like I said, _better, more important things.”_

-:(o):-

They played games well into the afternoon, Sans somehow getting at least second place every time, only bested by a computer character, Chara a few times, Flowey once, and, much to everyone’s surprise, Asgore. When they eventually grew tired of that, they settled in for spaghetti and a few movies (most of them anime). No one gave Sans weird or pitying looks. No one made any comment on anything they just learned. They just enjoyed each other’s company for the entire night.

Hung on full display besides the TV was their new family photo.

Yeah, this was definitely the best outcome his timeline could have.

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written Fanfiction since like middle school. Now I'm a second year in college like "how do I plot??" with 3 WIPs.
> 
> I have plans on continuing this series, but we'll see how that goes haha. If you caught the little hints here and there, yes, the multiverse is a thing here, so yes, the different Sanses know of each other and meet semi-regularly. That'll probably be explored later.
> 
> Next idea I have does involve Kustard, but not a lot of it. I'm not great at writing romance so don't worry. [Edit: I'm apparently more into writing Kustard than I expected. Sorry not sorry, but it's become a bigger part of the sequel than I expected oops.] After that, I'll probably look for suggestions for other stories to be written in this multiverse? I have ideas of what each universe will be like (aka winged or not winged), so we'll see if I come up with anything coolio that I actually try to finish. '._.
> 
> Uh, anywho, hope you liked this absolute mess of a story. I might draw that family photo later. Maybe.
> 
> Come yell at me if ya wanna.  
> Instagrams:  
> [paintedkinzy18](https://www.instagram.com/paintedkinzy18/)  
> [nerdykinzy18](https://www.instagram.com/nerdykinzy18/)  
> Tumblr:  
> [painted-kinzy18](https://painted-kinzy18.tumblr.com/)


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